Decorative products have traditionally been made from conventional compositions that include a mixture of calcium-based powder, dolomite powder, polyester resin, styrene, cobalt solution, and methylethylketone peroxide, which may be reinforced with fiberglass mats, and then molded to form a desired object, product, or article of manufacture.
Such compositions may be molded to form durable, impact resistant objects that are useful for a wide range of products (as noted above). However, the materials used in these compositions retain their natural density—even in crushed or powdered form. Thus, in the case of stonecast items, for example, the finished product will have a weight that is substantially identical to the weight of a similarly sized product made of stone (e.g., limestone or dolomite). Accordingly, there is considerable demand in the industry for a stonecast-type product that is much lighter in weight than its stone component(s).
In response to this demand, the industry has seen the development of polyester resin/fiberglass reinforced composites, which offer an alternative to stonecast compositions. These newer composites are often lighter than their natural counterparts, but there are also considerable negatives associated with these newer composites.
First, they are basically a form of plastic, with the same negative environmental impact as any other plastic product. Second, such composites are typically based on petrochemicals, with the same negative characteristics as any petrochemical product (from environmental impact, to market price pressures, to concerns over safety issues such as flammability). Third, the manufacture of such products typically involves odorous noxious chemicals, potentially exposing workers (often in third world countries) to dangerous, unhealthy, and generally undesirable working conditions.
Over the years the industry has made attempts to resolve these issues, notably by replacing fiberglass with cement-based materials or compositions, but these efforts have met with limited commercial success for a variety of reasons, including: (1) setting/hardening times that are too long to be viable for mass production; (2) excessive weight (as with any cement-based product); and (3) poor durability and impact resistance (as compared to fiberglass-based products).
Typical composite designs employ fine reinforcing filaments, either as single fibers or as a bundle of grouped or bonded filaments. The filaments are usually converted to other forms such as fabrics, continuous roving or chopped short, discrete lengths. The short, chopped fibers are often disposed by spraying onto a mold surface, depositing as a dewatered/filtered product or other known processes into thin layers, which are laminated together with binder material to form thick sheets or molded parts. Alternatively, the long strands are oriented in continuous, aligned arrays within the matrix to resist the imposed forces or loads. However, rarely are the reinforcements simply mixed directly into the fluid binder phase and cast as sheets or poured into molds. The fibers simply do not adequately wet-out or coat with the binder, and the longer chopped strands become easily entangled, forming lumps or balls that cannot be properly deposited into sheets or other shapes. The best option developed so far to allow direct mixing and molding of chopped fiber reinforced composites employs the use of high shear mixing and high-pressure molding or pressing equipment. The fiber and binder mixtures are typically produced as either a dilute liquid dispersion or a dough-like compound. In either case the materials must be further processed under precise and demanding conditions properly to set and shape the materials into final products or articles. These formulations and manufacturing techniques are well known to those skilled in the art, but the complexity, cost, and other difficulties in the fabrication process are also well documented. Numerous attempts have been made to try to improve composite processing while maintaining or improving physical properties but, at the same time, maintaining or reducing costs. However, heretofore, none of these techniques has allowed the reinforcements to be easily mixed into the binder and directly cast or molded without specialized equipment or processes. Such composites made from pre-mixed formulations typically suffer from low reinforcement levels, degraded fiber strength, poor fiber dispersion/uniformity, inadequate fiber bonding to the matrix, high void content, and other such problems. While aligned continuous filaments or thin fiber mats can provide high reinforcement levels (e.g., greater than 20 percent, >20%), the processing steps are very complex and not readily adaptable to different configurations. The use of short, chopped fibers can also provide high reinforcement volume levels (e.g., also greater than 20 percent, >20%), but only if rolled, laminated, pressed, extruded, or otherwise processed with specialized processing equipment. Blends of fine filaments and binder, which can be mixed with simple paddle blades or tumbling action and which can be poured and formed directly in open molds without aggressive consolidation or densification methods, generally cannot exceed 1 or 2% fiber volume levels. Some of the newer processing techniques describe the ability to approach 5 or 10% fiber volume content, but the improvements in composite strength over unreinforced binder matrix are still not very significant.
Accordingly, the industry continues to seek discovery and development of new fiber-reinforced composites that allow for the production of lightweight, durable and cheap consumer products and decorative articles, which are safer to manufacture and more environmentally friendly. The poly-fiber-reinforced geo-composite described and disclosed herein addresses and responds to one or more of these issues and needs in the industry, both in the workplace and in the marketplace. The above features and improvements, as well as additional features and aspects of the inventions, are described and disclosed herein and will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the systems, methods, articles of manufacture, technologies, and techniques.
The present technologies, as described and shown in greater detail hereinafter, address and teach one or more of the above-referenced capabilities, needs, and features that are useful for a variety of businesses and industries as described, taught, and suggested herein in greater detail.